Advice

Don't know if this is the best place for this. If not would appreciate some suggestions. I am considering replacing my present 5 year old Gateway computer which is in an out building connected to a modem in the house via a cable. We have other window computers in the house which are connected via wify. All computers are networked. I am wondering if a Mac would be a better choice instead of another Windows computer. I have have read comparisons and the major pros and cons but I am not sure what the best choice would be based on my usage. Much of my time is spent on a few websites such as Yahoo mail program, Google, GIS maps, financial sites and amazon.com. The rest of my time is spend on photographs. Downloading from a number of cameras, editing/printing etc. I have thousands most all in jpg. format. Also some video I have some games but am not a avid gamer. I do not have a problem paying more money for an apple product. Would I have any problem moving pictures and music files to a Mac from the vista system. Do Mac systems use USB like the Windows system. Would the Mac network via a cable. What about connection printers etc. ? Any help would be appreciated.

If your other computers are Windows and going by the what you say you use the computer for, I see no sense at all trying to network in a new apple PC. Mix and match is never a good idea when it comes to computers. Cheers, Lee

to be honest i don't see a problem, for all intents and purposes it is just another desktop/laptop pc that uses all the same hardware/connection types any other pc uses, the only difference is the operating system. (and you pay a bit more for it. ). like lee pointed out tho, there will be differences just not on a hardware level, printer and file sharing should work ok when setup, but if sharing any external/usb hard drives/memory sticks, don't use the mac to format them because the windows pc won't be able to use them, this is an operating system problem and nothing to do with the hardware.

to be honest i don't see a problem, for all intents and purposes it is just another desktop/laptop pc that uses all the same hardware/connection types any other pc uses, the only difference is the operating system. (and you pay a bit more for it. ).

like lee pointed out tho, there will be differences just not on a hardware level, printer and file sharing should work ok when setup, but if sharing any external/usb hard drives/memory sticks, don't use the mac to format them because the windows pc won't be able to use them, this is an operating system problem and nothing to do with the hardware.

Thanks, Does this mean if I had a word file on one of the windows machines I could work with it on the Mac? And transfer it back? Same would go for pictures? Would a Mac be able to use a Windows formatted thumb drive? What about camera card readers? I use a scandisk card or a sony memory card for pictures.

there will be differences just not on a hardware level, printer and file sharing should work ok when setup, but if sharing any external/usb hard drives/memory sticks, don't use the mac to format them because the windows pc won't be able to use them, this is an operating system problem and nothing to do with the hardware.

That was my point basically

to be honest i don't know what software is installed/used by apple on it's pc's/laptops so can not tell you if you will or won't have problems with transferring a word or picture file between both operating systems, usually i'd say yes you can without any problems but. everything depends on what type of file format the document/picture was saved as, most are supported by a mac and will just work, but others may need to be converted into something else before they can be used ( if at all ).

yes macs can read the fat or ntfs file system windows usually formats it's drives with so you shouldn't have a problem with the thumb drive. you may need to add some software before you can write to it, if it's been formatted with a ntfs file system, and this is the reason why removable drives that may be used by more than just a windows pc ( mac, linux ) are suggested to be formatted using a fat file system.

will your scandisk card reader work? that would depend on if there are mac drivers for it, so the place to look would be at the scandisk site ( i'd be very surprised if there wasn't a mac driver for it ), when the drivers installed and the card reader is working (may just work on being plugged into the mac, shrugs.), you shouldn't have any problems accessing the data on your cards, again tho, depends on file system/format (a) of the card. (b.) of the data stored on the card.

i thought you'd looked into the pro's and con's of a mac compared to a windows pc? some incompatible file systems/formats should have been under the con's.

for what you use a pc for the con's wouldn't put me off getting a mac to replace a windows pc ( cost would. but i'm a bit biased. because i use linux ), in fact from what i understand macs have some, if not, the best picture editing software available, so that alone may be reason enough to make you take the plunge and buy a mac.

for info :-
file systems :- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File_system
file formats :- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File_format

i tried a quick google search to find a good guide that lists the formats that can and can't be used between both a mac and windows pc but didn't have much luck.

this is my opinion too, both pc and macs are more or less the same. :-

The truth of the matter is that both are about the same. All they are, are different GUIs; slightly different ways of opening applications. Once the application is open, the only differences might be whether you use a single button mouse or a multi-button mouse, and even that difference vanishes with third party hardware.

http://www.guidenet.net/resources/win_vs_mac.html
if you want a mac buy a mac.

a review of windows win 7 os laptop against macs snow leapard os laptop from feb. last year.
http://www.laptopmag.com/mobile-life/snow-…-windows-7.aspx

When I buy something (yes,even a computer), I start with price, which the Apple V Windows reviewer failed to do.
Start with the same amount of money spent on each computer, rather than similar performance specs. and macs suddenly become very poor value indeed.

I found the comments in Mac OS X Snow Leopard vs. Windows 7. at the bottom of the page more interesting.

This one from phantomking is worth reading and taking into account-

Face it, all operating systems are flawed, they can't be everything to everyone, they contain bugs and defects because the people that write the software aren't perfect. That being said after working on both OSX Snow Leopard/Lion and Windows 7 for almost 3 years I would have to give Windows 7 the thumbs up.

Macs are pricy eye candy sold by marketing geniuses. Apple could sell an iFridge to an eskimo, and in the process convince everyone they invented refrigeration. But in the end that fridge will cost twice as much, have less options, and can only store food that is approved by Apple.

So why do you think PC always get bloated with tons of software and need cleaning once in a while. Because their owners use the carp** out of their PCs like they should be allowed to. They have the freedom to install what they want with almost limitless software options. However once you're in Apple's world you've got big brother telling you how to use your computer. If you say I'm exaggerating then let me remind you about the left hand usage of the the iPhone 4 no-no lecture by Steve Jobs. So most mac users don't go outside the box because they're happy with the bundled mac software, ignorance is bliss as they say.

Anyways, I have a Windows 7 media PC that hasn't blue screened even once in the past 3 years. I use it for movies, TV, music, games. Wakes from sleep almost instantly, never need to reboot it for technical issues. In the same time I've had a dozen OSX death screens on the Macbook pro… um, this is software and hardware made by the same company. Meanwhile Windows gets blamed for every PC crash even though hardware and driver compatibility could be the issue.

"Apple could sell an iFridge to an eskimo …"

Cheers,
Lee





.

few years old now but price wasn't that much difference for similar spec'd mac/windows laptops. :- http://www.pcworld.com/article/148032/mac_…ws_laptops.html

no idea what the difference may be today.

1 good thing about a mac, you don't see forums and forums and forums full of virus removal topics.

1 good thing about a mac, you don't see forums and forums and forums full of virus removal topics.

That's only because practically no one uses apple PCs due to there program limitations and virus writers couldn't be bothered with those that do.

no one uses apple PCs due to there program limitations

??????

what program limitations?

a mac is no different than a windows pc, both are proprietary operating systems with software limitations.

would i buy one? no, then again i wouldn't buy a windows pc either, but that wouldn't stop me recommending both to a user.

what program limitations?

The same limitations Linux has, there called PC games and I have a box of them here and none of them will ever work on either!

Cheers,
Lee

oh i bet i could get most of them up and running some how in linux and probably with a mac if i had one. but yes that is probably the only major limitation but it's not an os or hardware problem just that the games aren't usually ported to mac and linux by the games makers, even that tho is getting less and less i believe, pretty sure i read somewhere that even steam has a linux version so you can play it's games, and i think a mac was already able to play steam games.

to be honest i don't know what software is installed/used by apple on it's pc's/laptops so can not tell you if you will or won't have problems with transferring a word or picture file between both operating systems, usually i'd say yes you can without any problems but. everything depends on what type of file format the document/picture was saved as, most are supported by a mac and will just work, but others may need to be converted into something else before they can be used ( if at all ).

yes macs can read the fat or ntfs file system windows usually formats it's drives with so you shouldn't have a problem with the thumb drive. you may need to add some software before you can write to it, if it's been formatted with a ntfs file system, and this is the reason why removable drives that may be used by more than just a windows pc ( mac, linux ) are suggested to be formatted using a fat file system.

will your scandisk card reader work? that would depend on if there are mac drivers for it, so the place to look would be at the scandisk site ( i'd be very surprised if there wasn't a mac driver for it ), when the drivers installed and the card reader is working (may just work on being plugged into the mac, shrugs.), you shouldn't have any problems accessing the data on your cards, again tho, depends on file system/format (a) of the card. (b.) of the data stored on the card.

i thought you'd looked into the pro's and con's of a mac compared to a windows pc? some incompatible file systems/formats should have been under the con's.

for what you use a pc for the con's wouldn't put me off getting a mac to replace a windows pc ( cost would. but i'm a bit biased. because i use linux ), in fact from what i understand macs have some, if not, the best picture editing software available, so that alone may be reason enough to make you take the plunge and buy a mac.

for info :-
file systems :- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File_system
file formats :- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File_format

i tried a quick google search to find a good guide that lists the formats that can and can't be used between both a mac and windows pc but didn't have much luck.

this is my opinion too, both pc and macs are more or less the same. :-

The truth of the matter is that both are about the same. All they are, are different GUIs; slightly different ways of opening applications. Once the application is open, the only differences might be whether you use a single button mouse or a multi-button mouse, and even that difference vanishes with third party hardware.

http://www.guidenet.net/resources/win_vs_mac.html
if you want a mac buy a mac.

a review of windows win 7 os laptop against macs snow leapard os laptop from feb. last year.
http://www.laptopmag.com/mobile-life/snow-…-windows-7.aspx

Thanks everybody for the advice and info. I guess now my number one concern is the speed of loading and processing digital photographs. The larger 15 meg pics are much slower with my present system. I have read where the apples are supposed to be better and faster at processing video. Would a high end pc with a good video card be as fast as a mac pro in processing?

If your decision is going to be based around digital still or video editing, it's advisable to do some 2011 based research (google: "which computer for photo/video editing 2011" ?) concerning both Apple and Windows. Neither has a photo / video editing performance or software advantage, as both platforms offer an excellent choice of editing software nowadays. Windows does have an indisputable cost, video-card and upgrade advantage though.

For performance, either a Windows or Apple PC should be based around a multi-core Intel i7 CPU for video editing, i5 for just digital photo, USB3 ports and if your serious, I'd also be thinking (a lot) about a high quality 16:10 ratio IPS monitor, such as in the Dell Utltra-sharp range or similar quality IPS monitor. TWO for video editing.

Before You Buy a Video Editing Computer

"What computer system should I use for Video Editing?"

Cheers and good luck with it,
Lee

either or, mac or pc both have advantages, like lee said tho, fastest multi-core ( quad at minimum ) cpu and lots of memory are top priority for both systems. i believe pc's have a speed advantage with macs edging it on quality. (colour seen on screen is the colour seen in print.) both have good picture editing software available to them from free upto very expensive professional software. and of course nothing would beat linux and gimp ( free but near professional quality editing software.) but that's a huge huge learning curve ( and not a serious suggestion, even tho a good one, ) i just wanted to pull lee's leg a bit because linux is a faster os than windows.